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Monday, January 6, 2014

Many are called, but few are FROZEN!!!!

Unfortunately I'm one of those few, what an adventure;
you have not experienced winter till you've been to Newfoundland. It’s been a great and dreadful
week.

So I have to combine my letter to everyone
this week because of the random power outages and we never know when it’s going
to go out again and for how long. There were 2 huge power plants one caught on
fire and the other one blew up, more than half the island has no power, our
apartment is one of them. The power will come on for about 5 min then go out
for another 12-24 hours good thing we are never home. People panic! the grocery
stores were packed there was not a drop of drinkable water left in any store, the
gas stations were backed up miles long, we've had many candle light/ flashlight
appointments. It has truly been a winter I will never forget, and it’s only the
beginning!

Monday December 30th

What a great day! Boxing Day shopping I found
2 skirts for less than 12 dollars each! And no shirts that never happens! We
taught one of our investigators, Chantelle, her first lesson on the restoration
and she is getting baptized onFebruary 22nd,we are so excited and we are
continuing to teach her and she is progressing so much, she has a very
short attention span so we've been doing as many object lessons as possible ha-ha
its not that easy, but so worth it! She has many cool experiences that bring
her closer to Christ. One experience she had was just last week, she gets
really bad headaches and she was having one and nothing was taking it away, so
she knelt down and started praying and she said her headache went away and
she was over come by the spirit and just knew that someone was there
comforting her, she constantly feels the presence of god and angels in her
life. She has come along way in just a few weeks. We also taught Sherry and
Brian I LOVE THEM!! We also taught them the restoration, the spirit was so
strong and they have 7 kids who most of them are really interested. They are
definitely kingdom builders!

Tuesday.

NEW YEARS EVE!!!!

What a complete change around from last year.
Last year I was questioning everything and this year I'm serving the Lord.
WAHOOO!

New investigator, his name is Paul Muyanga, he
was a former investigator from a few years ago, and his nieces are members of
our branch and just the greatest! We took dinner over to the Larsen’s who just
had a baby on Christmas day (poor child). We then went back to the Muyangas and
had dinner (you don't want to know what I ate) and that's when we taught Paul.
I also had my first Skype interview with President Leavitt. What a great man! He
loves the work and he puts every effort into it. He told me I'm doing really
well and I'm the only positive new missionary he’s had in awhile. I feel bad
for the other Sister’s I came out with like Sister Jarvis, she isn't doing to
well, but she will be great and do great things. He also told me I'm very
mature and I'm one of those missionaries who came out trained and ready to
work. We have been having lots of success and I'm adjusting very well! Life is
good! Fireworks here are nuts you can buy them any where and every where and
any age can buy them. Newfoundland
is crazy!

Wednesday

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Guess what my first meal of the New Year was?
McDonalds!!! 2 plain cheeseburgers, fries and a hot chocolate. (Out here you
seriously have to have hot chocolate at every meal or you'll freeze) and then
we had dinner at the Reids a less active and active home. It’s an interesting
situation I don't know a whole lot about, but it was great. We had jigs dinner
which is cabbage, turnip, carrots, potatoes’ then some sort of meat. In this
case we had turkey salted ribs and roast and of course gravy, it was very
good... well most of it. Ha-ha we also made plans to do a 3 day exchange to
C.B.S. (Conception Bay South) to see if the sisters would be more effective. It
is gorgeous out there; it’s well obviously a bay, so it’s right by the ocean. So
expect some pictures!! I'm excited to go to CBS I'll be doing lots of knocking,
but that’s okay, it’s not as bad when it’s some what warm out.

Thursday

I SAW MY FIRST RAT! HOW NASTY!!! We went to
contact a former named Paul Noftle and there was a rat running around. I didn't
know what to do or how to react. so we have been having come crazy says and
because there is apparently not enough power they will shut parts of the city
down so we would randomly have no power so when we were teaching Chantelle we
had power and before we knew it we were teaching by flashlight. All say our
power was in and out and it was very cold in our apartment the windy was so
cold it is so bone chilling. After we taught Chantelle we taught Brian and Sherry
and their family, they are progressing so much and so fast! Sherry asked me a
question at the end and she said "if I were to get baptized or come to
church would I be accepted even though I've already been baptized into another
church?" I turned to her and said "we are all gods children he loves
us all the same, you will be accepted the same and if not more than someone
being baptized at 8. God is rejoicing as we all should be" I'm going to
put her on date soon. She also said she wants to know more about Joseph Smith.

So its official Sister Turner and I are going
to C.B.S. mon-wed (so today)

Last night Sister Turner and I went to see a
referral and turns out she was in the "nun" hospital. So we
decided to go visit her. 1st she was at Saint Claries Hospital which is run
down and ran by nuns and is very old. 2nd she told us her entire life
story she’s been in and out of jail her whole life and just got out 2 months
ago, was homeless for 3 years and a drug
addict etc. I felt so bad for her and kind of scared. (Lot’s
of people here will just up and tell you their whole life story
right there on the street) none of that matters because she is here
now and ready to learn and I'm excited to teach her more!

Friday.

Every one is going crazy! Grocery stores are
packed full of people getting ready for the storm coming later. We had no
power while weekly planning, that was an adventure, also as soon as we finished
planning the Mount Pearl Elders called us and told us that we
were going to C.B.S.on Mondayinstead ofWednesdaywe were quite upset because we just
spent 3 hours planning out the coming week and then everything got changed on
us, and of course the person I am some times things come out of my mouth before
I can stop it I say, "is that true revelation, cuz its making everyone
very upset", but of course we took our problem and found a way to
solve it with as much charity as possible. The Mount Pearl Elders drive us nuts
but we love them!! They also didn't tell C.B.S about the change so they
were upset as well. So because there was a storm today we were told to stay
inside, so we cleaned our apartment, its spotless, just for the C.B.S. Elders,
they are clean freaks!

So lucky me, since the day I got here it
hasn't stopped snowing, we've gotten another 4 feet of snow from the storm we
just had. Apparently this is worse than the 2001 storm they had, and I get to
be apart of it! What a promised land!

Saturday.

SOMEONE PLEASE STOP SHAKING THE SNOW GLOBE WE
ARE IN!!!!! And dial down the wind. What a brutal day. We were again told not
to leave our apartments, but Sister Turner and I were going stir crazy, we were
so bored and had no food or power, so we didn't listen and left. We bundled up
and went shoveling. We shoveled out a few of the members close by, and then
went to the Reids for lunch and to warm up. My face turned into one big icicle,
I had them hanging form my eyelashes and nose. It was cold, and we had no power
all day, what a great day!!

Sunday.

Church was cancelled, so we set up
appointments and we went out to a small town called Torbay
to contact some referrals and we had a dinner appointment with one of the
members out in Flat Rock. Sister Hollett and her husband, they are
converts and joined the church just a few years back. They are amazing member
missionaries! Then we went back to St. John’s and taught Brian and Sherry again,
we watched the restoration video and then read from the Book of Mormon, and
invited her to be baptized and she said she would think about it a bit more,
but most likely ha-ha they are just great we love them so much. I love St.John’s,
Newfieland it just keeps getting better and better!!!

It’s been a fun and interesting week! I hope
ya'll are having a great winter and a happy new year!!